By Jessica Mack
Boy or Girl? Why Do More Americans Prefer Male Children?
We need a global overhaul of the way we value girls and women.
July 11, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/151602/boy_or_girl_why_do_more_americans_prefer_male_children/If you were to have only one child, and could choose its sex, would you prefer a boy or a girl? If you secretly thought "boy," or had the guts to say it out loud, then you're not alone.
A recent Gallup poll showed that Americans prefer boys over girls, by about 40 percent to 28 percent, while about one-quarter had no preference. Perhaps not surprisingly, women reported a greater preference for girls while more men preferred boys, but men did so to a much higher degree. Age, education level and political leanings of respondents were also recorded, with a curious result: young, lesser educated men were the biggest champions of baby boys.
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I think the cause for alarm here is not necessarily in the varying gender preferences of men and women, but the extremes to which those preferences can manifest. While sex-selective abortion is not a major issue in the US (yet, or that we know of), the line between theoretical preference and active discrimination is fine.
